Welcome to our first monthly fused glass jewelry tutorial! Each month, I will share a new design using our fusible glass decals.
I love to teach and share my designs with fellow glass enthusiasts. This is why I came up with all these snazzy, glass fusing decals
for your pieces!
I spend a lot of time actually designing individual pieces, rather than making
slabs and producing large batches. I have a sketch book with hundreds
of designs and with the constant new development of fusing...

Contemporary glass art is reviving an ancient glass medium.Warm glass, which is commonly known as glass fusing or slumping, is an ancient artistic technique. Historians have found traces of both methods dating back to the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia. Glass mosaics, valued in Greek and Romans civilizations, were considered equal to silver and gold as precious materials. By the third century AD warm glass fell out of favor, eclipsed by a new blown glass technique. It was not until the emer...

The Process
In strip-cut construction of a fused glass piece, strips of glass are cut from sheets of glass, and assembled on edge, rather than laid flat. This technique not only lends itself to designs with geometric and linear components, but also produces an almost bubble-free final piece.
The process begins by determining the size and shape of the project to be created, and then drawing the outline of the project on a piece of ThinfireŽ paper. This refractory paper performs a dual...

There are other ways of making a woven
bowl. This is one of the easier methods. In this example I am making a
12 x 9" oval bowl, with a clear base and transparent red strips.
First make an accurate, life size template of the
bowl, with evenly spaced strips drawn into the design. Then, cut an oval of 3mm thick clear glass to the shape of the bowl and place it on the drawing.
Strips of 3mm glass are cut (here they are 1/2" wide strips). A layer of strips is laid out on the templa...

Cold combing seems like an oxymoron when you are talking about a hot craft like glass fusing.
Combing is usually referred to a method where molten glass is maneuvered in a hot kiln.
What is this method and how is it accomplished?
How can you comb through cold hard glass?
There is something about the original technique that produces a more authentic appearance.
This process gives similar results without the risk of burns or accidents while pulling glass inside a hot kiln.
So if yo...

#1. Stringer glass and sliced strips of glass are chosen for the colour palette.
#2. I have chosen to use Zircar Refractory comp. containment molds for my dams or walls of the cast pieces I
will create. I kiln wash with Bullseye kiln wash and dry before placing on a clean newly primed kiln shelf that has also been dried in kiln.
#3. Here the molds are placed side by side ready to load with glass
#4. Cut the strips of glass in any colour configuration of your choosing. I like to pile c...

Combing is an exciting process of manipulating hot glass in a kiln. Make sure you have all the proper equipment, clothing, glass, etc. arrange the glass strips vertically so that I can get really tight lines, lots of color/pattern. These vertical strips are supported with two strips stacked flat on each end (this really is helpful when transporting the kiln shelf to the kiln).
Since kiln wash breaks down at high temperatures, I use ceramic fiber under the glass. If you want to do the combing di...

The crackle technique gives glass an intentionally irregular and fractured appearance of crackle glass.
Usually to achieve this process glass needs to be plunged into cold water and then reheated.
It would involve using a sensitive touch and heating just enough to retain the cracks.
Another way is to roll hot glass in a bed of crushed glass and the effect
remains on the outside while the inside of the glass is still smooth.
This method would also involve a lot of steps and handl...

We're going to keep this simple.
We've been researching and testing trying to find a reasonably easy and quick way to make many uniform
high quality cabochons in a short period of time. This is what we've come up with so far.
Whenever possible we fuse base compositions that will be cut down into smaller pieces and then worked
to what we want them to be. The main reason we don't do small individual pieces is because it can be hard
and frustrating to stack and fuse smaller pieces and have...

Powder Mixture:
1 Part Alumina Hydrate
1 Part Kaolin
1/2 Part Silica Powder (150-200 Mesh)
Mix above ingredients in a sealed container ( 5 gallon bucket with lid). You must wear an appropriate respirator while handling these powdered chemicals. The dust is very harmful to your lungs. Make sure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Rolling a 3/4 filled bucket on the ground for 10 minutes should be good enough. You have to flip it over often to be sure the contents do not simply slid...